Review: ThermoMorph

So something magical happened.  A company contacted me about reviewing their product.  Usually it's the other way around.  So here it is: ThermoMorph!

It is apparently made out of polymorph granules and is available on Amazon, for $19.95 per 500g.  Basically, it is a bottle of little plastic beads that melt in hot water.  They are about this big:

You dump them in hot water (I poured water from the kettle in a bowl, and dumped the beads in), and they quickly go clear and start to stick together, like so:

It's also quite sticky when you first pull it out, which solves the first worry I had about it, that it would be hard to get out of the boiling hot water.  It says on the bottle that it takes two minutes, but it never took that long for me.  It cools down pretty quickly to just pleasantly warm, but is really hot when it first comes out.  It is then surprisingly pliable:

My camera isn't good enough to pick it up, but when it's nice and hot, you can actually get a fingerprint in this stuff, which is cool.  The bottle says you can color it, which turned out ok, but don't be a dummy like me and use liquid food coloring, because it makes a big mess and is almost impossible to get evenly distributed.  I think a powder would work better.  Here is my best effort, at any rate:

That's going to be the handle of a beading tool, eventually.  It adheres to the wire really nicely.  It also adheres nicely to my crochet hook, that I made a nice ergonomic handle for:

You can also see how very badly I stained my hands making that beader handle pink.  It was everywhere, I tell you!  We also tried to make some buttons:

But I got super frustrated trying to get them all the same size and gave up.  The stuff is definitely hard enough to drill though, and should take paint well.  I don't keep any paint other than water colors on hand though, so I haven't tried that yet.

The one downside of this stuff is part of the whole reusable thing... once it's in a lump, it takes forever to warm back up again enough to be pliable.  We did get some interesting flower shapes, working with pieces that were warm and bendy on the outside and hard in the middle.  But, if you have leftover pieces, and you want to use them again later, I highly suggest rolling them out into a thin piece, and maybe snipping it into little bits before putting it back in the jar.  Also, a thing to keep in mind is that it's kind of boingy.  It springs back when you press on it, know what I mean?  But it is really neat, over all, and I'm looking forward to playing with it some more.

Full disclosure: I did get some free ThermoMorph to play with.  I was not however compensated in any other way for this review.

Just a reminder that my moving sale is still going on.  Get 20% off all the patterns in my Ravelry Store!

Yarn on a Plane

I'm worried.  We're going to be flying to Texas this week to visit family, and I have no idea what I'm really going to be able to take on the plane.  I know that the official TSA rules are readily available online, but the fact of the matter is, any overzealous gate agent can decide that those rules don't apply today, and sorry you are not allowed to have that thank you very much.  On the other hand, it's a freaking long flight.  Plus waiting in the airport.

So, I have a plan.  Sorta.  Basically, I figure that a crochet hook, as long as it's not too small, looks less threatening than knitting needles... in addition, it's cheaper to replace if it ends up in the garbage at the gate.  We'll see how well it works.

Review: Susan Bates Quicksilver crochet hooks

These are my very favorite crochet hooks.  Made out of a special heat treated aluminum, they are smooth and light weight.  The most important thing to me, though, is the head -- these, like most Susan Bates hooks, have an inline head.  The head is slightly shallower than most Susan Bates hooks, however they still have that nice sharp edge so I find that it took some getting used to, but is not a problem.

The thing I really like about these hooks is the finish.  It feels almost powdery in the hands, and is very smooth for speedy hooking.  It isn't, however, TOO slippery -- I'm happy working with these hooks on everything from grippy wool to slickery bamboo.

The one issue I have with them is how easy it is to damage that finish.  That being said, I have kids who like to do thinks like repeatedly drop my hooks on the concrete to make them go "p-ting-ting!"  So my experience with that may be skewed.  But my kids aren't allowed to touch these hooks.  They are my favorite.

Do you have something you want me to review? Needles? Yarn? Notions? Drop me a line! marusempai at gmail dot com Put "Maru reviews" in the subject line.

Getting organized, I am doing it

Behold my new organizational device!  It's not a file cabinet, but a Sterlite seven drawer tower.  The bottom drawer is reserved for WIPs that I want to keep at my desk, the top drawer is for tools (hooks, needles and so on), and the rest is for design work!  I am however having a hard time deciding how to subdivide it.  Finished/unfinished?  Large projects/small projects?  I just don't know!  But my desk is looking a lot better than it was before.  I'm actually going to have space for some books, which I've sorely missed since our big move this summer.  Also with luck the big sort will mean getting rid of a few things.  I do tend to be a packrat.

In search of the perfect hook...

I admit it.  I've become something of a hook snob.  I discovered this working on my sock.  I was just incredibly frustrated, and couldn't figure out why.  Then I took a closer look.  I was not using an inline hook.  It was one of those Boye style hooks.  Teh horrors!  Thus began my search.  First I went to the yarn store by my mom's house (as I was down there for Christmas anyway).  They had it, but only in Brittany Birch.  For a 3.5mm, I don't trust myself not to break it.  Then behind the Clover Soft Touches I saw them... Susan Bates Quicksilver.  My favorite hook.  They only had 3.75mm.  ARGH!  So the next day I was on a quest.  Inline, 3.5mm, preferably metal.  I called four yarn stores.  Two didn't have any at all.  One was closed until after the fourth (and I wanted it NOW).  Finally I called the Twisted Knit.  They have Brittany Rosewoods, which is a harder wood, so less prone to breakage.  Maybe, just maybe.  They also offered to order me an Addi hook.  I'm not sure what kind of head they have tho, and that's the important part... it must be an inline head!

Then I stopped by Joanns and found the right size in Susan Bates Silvalume.  For two dollars.  Yeah, it's a funny kind of snob I've become.  I'll probably still order some Quicksilvers from the Colorado Springs yarn store tho.  Just, you know, later.  When I'm in less of an "instant gratification" sort of mood.